


time

by lesbiantoddhoward



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: (eda is only mentioned), Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, for anyone in in the future: this was written before the season one finale, so it's def not gonna align with whatever happens then
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26068978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbiantoddhoward/pseuds/lesbiantoddhoward
Summary: After what happened at the Emperor's Palace, Luz is lost. She withdraws, hoping to be forgotten by the Isles.One Blight refuses to let that go unchallenged.SPOILERS FOR AGONY OF A WITCH
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 7
Kudos: 318





	time

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't a terribly shippy fic by any means, but there are small hints at it.

Time passed in funny ways. 

Only a few months ago, Luz was friendless, outcast and lonelier than she knew. Only a few weeks ago, Eda was an intimidating mentor figure, someone the human desperately wanted to prove herself to. And yet, despite the odds, Luz had found something she had never had in her fourteen years on Earth. She found a family. A place for ‘weirdos’ like her.

She loved her mother, and her mother loved her. Of course! Mami worked hard—too hard—to support her while paying off medical school debts. The demanding hours of a nurse were necessary to provide, but that didn’t mean they were easy for either of them. Luz was alone far more often than not and it was impossible not to feel some resentment for that, regardless of how misplaced she knew it was. The camp had, in some way, worsened it. Grom brought that to the forefront of her mind, and finally allowed her to process some of what she had been burying. The Isles had a funny way of doing that, forcing Luz to confront things she hadn’t even realized were a problem. 

No, that wasn’t exactly true. Eda had a funny way of forcing Luz to confront things—even if Luz was uncertain her mentor was even aware she had that much influence over her. Eda had provided her with a place to learn, a place to grow. She was learning magic, of course, but also so much more. For the first time she could remember, Luz felt like she was growing,

Only five days ago, all of that had been ripped away.

The walk from the emperor’s palace had been exhausting, yet it was impossibly vague in Luz’s mind. She remembered how sore she felt, how tired she was when she returned to The Owl House. She remembered how King’s simple question had pierced her, finally caused the tears to flow over. 

She couldn’t remember ending up in Eda’s nest, a sleeping King held in her arms, pale moonlight barely illuminating the room. She couldn’t remember how long she had waited outside the Palace, the bridge withdrawn. 

She couldn’t remember ever hurting this much. Those nights—before the Isles, before Eda, before King, Gus, Willow, Amity, even Hooty—spent crying over her loneliness, or over the sting of whatever name she had been called at school, or even the one or two times over the bruises, after some bully had pushed her too far, suddenly seemed so childish and insignificant. 

As she slowly recovered from the physical pain of the fight on the bridge, of walking hours on end, the emotional pain became more prevalent. Dried tears stained her puffy face, her throat was raw, but the emptiness, the hollowness, that was what hurt the most now.

At first, Luz tried to do what Lilith told her. On the second night, as King slept, she attempted to leave. Clearly, her presence in this realm was hurting everyone. It had taken hours of searching to remember that it was likely still with Eda. It took several more to calm down from that, realizing that she can’t even prevent the same suffering from befalling the others she cared about here. King had calmed her down, thankfully, forced her to admit that leaving would be a bad idea, but that nagging doubt remained.

It was why she felt safer, felt better staying in the house. Luz had barely seen the sun since getting back, and had yet to go outside. Outdoors…it didn’t feel right. She didn’t deserve it, she didn’t deserve the freedom of the Isles. It was a stupid line of thinking, of course, and objectively she knew that, but telling that to the feeling of dread and misery sitting in the pit of her stomach was another thing.

Since then, she had mostly stayed in Eda’s room, staring at the ceiling, thinking. King…well, she wasn’t really sure what King did during the day. He had begun bringing her food during the day—“Humans, uh, need to eat everyday, right?” he had asked. She had answered with only a nod. They were simple snacks: sliced apples with apple blood, bone crackers, even the few human snacks that were left from Owlbert’s last excursion to Earth, but they were appreciated. 

Still, as sweet as King was, Luz had never felt so alone on the Boiling Isles. No visitors had come to the Owl House since she had returned. Even Willow and Gus hadn’t returned, something that brought no relief to her anxieties. She had hoped they were okay.

The closest they had to guests was an attempted raid by a small platoon of Emperor’s Coven members. Hooty had made short work of them, and it seemed seizing the house was a low priority for now, at least, given how no others had attempted to attack.

This changed on day five.

Luz was sprawled out on the couch rather than Eda’s nest, for once. She unlocked her phone, only to immediately lock it once again, just as she had absent mindedly done for the last…however long. It gave her hands something to do.

At exactly three-thirty four in the afternoon, according to her phone’s clock, she heard a soft knock at the door, a quiet voice from outside the drawn curtains.

“Luz? Are you in there?”

The human dove under the couch. She couldn’t place the voice, not right away, and it was odd Hooty hadn’t attacked the intruder out right. If he had failed to stop whoever this was…Luz didn’t want to imagine the outcome.

“I…I don’t know if you’re in there, Luz. But it’s me, uhm, Amity,” her voiced wavered, and Luz heard a small sigh. She sounded so weak, so tired, nothing like the girl Luz had seen at the Covention, or as they danced at Grom, or even the Grudgby match that now felt light years away.

Her first instinct was to open the door, to wrap the witch in a big hug, to tell her everything. But it was impossible to ignore her connection to Lilith, to the Emperor’s Coven. Besides, even if Amity was here to help, involving her in this would only endanger her. It was best for everyone if Luz just faded away from their lives, no matter how much it hurt.

A muffled sob from outside only made that harder.

She heard Amity breathe—in five, out five, in five, out five—regaining some composure. “Luz, I…I don’t know what happened. No one’s telling me anything,” she paused, her breath hitching, “Gus and Willow are avoiding me at school. And…and there’s all these wanted posters for you in town. Even your…stupid house demon isn’t saying anything to me,” she punched the door lightly, but true to what she said, Hooty made not even a peep. 

Slowly, Luz crawled out from under the couch. She hesitantly made her way to the door, each step feeling laborious and wobbly, like a toddler taking their first steps. The short distance to the door felt now longer than her trek back from the palace. Placing a hand on the cool metal of the door handle she took in a deep breath and…

couldn’t do it. It was as if Hooty’s door were made of stone, impossible to budge. It wouldn’t be fair to her, she thought, you’re being selfish. She has a whole life ahead of her. You’re going to hide in here for the rest of your life. Coward. Sliding to the ground, her back against the door, Luz began to sob, praying to whatever deity there was in this realm that Amity would just leave her alone to this fate.

Instead, Luz heard the other girl gasp. “Luz? Is that you?” she rushed out, a tinge of hope spilling through her words, “Please, Luz, answer the door. I…I need you.”

Biting down on her tongue, the human cursed herself for making a noise. She slinked away from the door, pulling her hood up over her head, and moved under the table. If she just stayed as quiet as possible, Amity would think she misheard, or, something? 

It would be easier if she just went upstairs and ignored it, but some part of her refused to let her leave. That would be wrong, to let Amity truly speak to no one.

Outside, she heard the sound of the witch rummaging through what was probably her book bag—after all, it was after school. Had she come here right after class? Amity cleared her throat, her voice sounding just a bit more confident as she began to read out loud. “The peaceful realm of Eradale had long been guarded by three witches: Azura, Hecatate, and…”

Luz knew the prologue to the first Azura book well, of course. She had read it countless times, her only friend on her mother’s long night shift and she and Amity had re-enacted it on end in the library hideout. If pressed, the human might even be able to recite from memory. But hearing it once again instantly brought her unsteady breathing and shaking body—something she had hardly even noticed—to a slow stop, as she allowed herself to hang off of Amity’s reading. She had always thought her friend was an excellent narrator, ever since that day in the library with Otabin, and it was hard to argue with the calming effect it had over her.

She stayed like that for hours, listening to Amity. Eventually, Luz noticed the shadows in the room growing longer and longer, until it was nearly pitch black, the lights of the house having been extinguished since Eda left.

Before she could begin to spiral on that fact, she was interrupted, noticing that her narrator had gone silent.

Amity sighed, and bumped what sounded like her head against the door. “Luz…I really don’t know if you’re in there, or if you’re okay,” she began, sniffling, “I really hope you are, and not just because I hope I didn’t spend all evening reading to your house,” a small laugh, with a hint of sadness behind it, made Luz’s heart shatter.

With perhaps too much bravery, the human moved to a window, peeking out from behind the curtain. Amity sat against the door; the contents of her bag scattered around her. She looked absolutely exhausted, and not much better than Luz has been the last few days. Drawing circles in the dirt with a finger, she created small lights.

“I…this sounds dumb, I know, but, you’ve changed my life,” Amity wiped a tear away from her face before continuing, “I don’t know much about your life in the human realm, but here, well, you know I didn’t really have any friends until you came along. At least, none I hadn’t pushed away. But you showed up and you were—or, are so passionate, so kind. You made me want to change. I’m a better person because of you,” by now, the tears were flowing freely, and the girl struggled to catch her breath, “I don’t know what you’ve gotten into, or where you are, even, but…I love you, Luz.”

Both girls were crying now, the sound of Luz’s sobs hidden beneath Amity’s.

“Please, if you are in there, let me help you. I…I don’t care about anything else. I know you, and…you’re not a criminal. Something or someone is wrong, and I can help! Maybe, maybe I could talk to Lilith and—”

Without thinking, Luz screamed, a wretched, raw scream. “NO!”

Amity whipped her head towards the window Luz was peeking out around, the two making eye contact, the witch’s face flashing between a mix of emotions. She rushed over towards the opening, practically shoving her face against the glass. “Luz, Luz, oh my Gods, Luz,” she was sobbing, a dam finally breaking, “You’re okay, oh my Gods. Please, Luz, please, I don’t know what’s happened, but please. Please, let me in.”

Luz felt her face burning, fiery tears streaming down her face, “You can’t. I don’t want to hurt you, too, and I don’t want anything to do with,” she paused, feeling her voice turn venomous, “her.”

Confusion warped Amity’s face. “But, she can—”

“No.”

The other witch paused, looking even more stunned. Eventually, she nodded. “Okay, uh, no Lilith. I don’t…okay. Just please, can I come in?”

It was Luz’s turn to pause, considering her options. At this point, Amity knew she was here, and she could be just as stubborn as her. Was there any point to not letting her in? She’d just come back again, and again, and again. “Hooty…you can let her in.” As the house owl swung open, she checked her phone again. Eight fourty-eight.

She looked up, finding Amity jumping on her, wrapping her arms around her. It was funny; Luz was always the one to hug first. Truthfully, she was a little afraid all her physical contact made her uncomfortable.

Pulling away from the hug, Luz looked Amity in the eyes, trying to look as stern as possible. “I’m serious, Amity. You can’t tell Lilith anything, please,” tears she didn’t know she had left returned as she grew louder, “she…they took Eda. She tried to kill me, Amity. Eda sacrificed herself for…” Luz crumpled, unable to finish the sentence. She leaned on Amity for a while, before realizing the other witch had gone silent, pulling back to look at her. “Amity?”

It was as if the witch were miles away, hey eyes glazed over in thought. “Luz…she…but…,” she stumbled backwards, falling onto the couch, “Lilith did that?”

Luz nodded, sitting next to her as she wiped her nose. “I didn’t…I didn’t want to tell you. I know she’s your mentor and—”

“No, Luz, no,” Amity interrupted, “I would never hurt you,”

Melting, Luz laid her head in her friend’s lap. “I didn’t think you would, Amity. I just…I hurt Eda, and I hurt Gus and Willow. I didn’t wanna hurt you, too.”

The couch paled in comparison to the comfort Amity provided, stroking her hair as they sat. The witch smiled, “Well, we both don’t want to hurt each other. That’s a start, right?” She smiled, “I…I still don’t know what to do, or the next move, but maybe for now, I can just stay with you?” Amity reached for her hand, before faltering. “I mean, if that’s…if that’s okay with you.”

Luz nodded. Cutting herself off like she had was painful, and more than anything she wanted to be held, to be with one of the few good things in her life. “I’m sorry, Amity. I know…I know this is your life.”

She made an unconvincing pfft noise, waving her hand in the air, “What? Please, no, it’s…” she sighed, deflating. “I don’t want to lie to you, Luz. It’s…it’s hard to believe what you said. Lilith means a lot to me, and a part of me doesn’t want to believe it,” she sank even lower, her head falling, “but I know how she gets with Eda. The Covention…well, you remember it, how upset I was. To think she’d take it that far?” Pausing, Amity shot back up, “I’m sorry, this, this isn’t about me. I should be comforting you. Gods, I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.”

Seeing Amity this vulnerable, this afraid, shook Luz to her core. The human reached out, meeting her hand. “I get it, Amity. It’s hard, just, all of it. I don’t…I don’t really wanna talk about it right now,” she turned, in her lap, looking straight up at the witch, “but thank you, Amity. You, staying it...it means a lot to me. I’ve been really lonely and you…you’re my best friend,” she quelled the voice in her head asking if she could possibly be more; there would be a time to think about that, later, “I love you, too.”

It was not going to be easy, whatever came next. Luz was an optimist, not an idiot. She believed they could save Eda, and maybe even make Lilith change, but the ‘how’ still escaped her. That would come in time; all that could be done now is rest.

For the first night in five nights, Luz was not visited by nightmares.

  


**Author's Note:**

> i was having writer's block with my other fic after the sheer amount of angst from agony of a witch, so i decided to do something productive instead of floundering around with edits!
> 
> sorry if there were some more weird word choices or grammatical issues and stuff in this fic than warm woolen mittens btw! i usually try to plot things out more, but this one I just kinda freeformed and let happen.


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